


The Greatest Weapon in the Universe

by SingingInTheRaiin



Series: Worth the Wait [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: BAMF Rory Williams, Episode: s05e13 The Big Bang, F/M, Gen, Immortal Rose Tyler, not naming names or anything, some people become fools in their old age, the Doctor deserves to be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 06:38:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20652824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: "Rory looked down at the bodies in front of him in disgust, and wiped his sword off on the other man’s clothes before sliding it back into the sheath attached to his belt. “Rory, right?”He immediately drew the sword back out again and spun around to face whoever had just spoken. He was filled with suspicion. How could anyone know who he was in the ninth century? There was a young woman standing in front of him, even younger looking than Amy. She was dressed in jeans and a pink tee shirt with a sparkly heart on it. Definitely not the kind of clothing that could be found in this time period."Rose has some time to spare, so why not spend it with Rory to help keep him sane during his very long wait?





	The Greatest Weapon in the Universe

Rory looked down at the bodies in front of him in disgust, and wiped his sword off on the other man’s clothes before sliding it back into the sheath attached to his belt. “Rory, right?”

He immediately drew the sword back out again and spun around to face whoever had just spoken. He was filled with suspicion. How could anyone know who he was in the ninth century? There was a young woman standing in front of him, even younger looking than Amy. She was dressed in jeans and a pink tee shirt with a sparkly heart on it. Definitely not the kind of clothing that could be found in this time period. “Who are you?” Anyone who dared to get too close to the Pandorica was potentially an enemy, no matter how innocent they appeared to be.

The woman offered him a small smile. “I’m a friend. I want to help you. You probably haven’t taken a single break in the past eight hundred years or so. So that’s what I’m offering you. A break. For however long you need.”

Rory narrowed his eyes. “And I’m supposed to just abandon my post to a complete stranger?”

She shrugged, not looking offended by his suspicion. “It’s alright, I understand. There’s something quite special inside of there. Someone. There’s no reason that you should trust her to any old stranger.” Then she plopped down and sat with her legs crossed and her back leaned up against the ancient box. “Luckily for you, I’ve got all the time in the world to convince you that you can trust me.” She patted the grass next to her, but Rory remained standing. She didn’t seem bothered. “I am giving you blanket permission right now, Rory, to ask me absolutely anything you can imagine, other than my name or when I was born. And it is advisable that you don’t try to learn too much about your own future, but I won’t stop you if there’s anything you truly want to know. Whether you want to believe my answers or not is completely up to you, of course.”

Rory frowned at her, and took a moment to glance around and make sure that no one else was around to cause trouble. He didn’t see anyone, so he focused back on the woman. “You’re obviously a time traveler, so how did you get here?”

“In my TARDIS. She’s sort of like the baby sister to the one that you’re used to. Or maybe the daughter of? I’m not actually sure about that.”

And of course that only created a string of new questions. Rory took a moment to think about how wise it was to let himself get distracted by this. But he also knew that he’d do anything to defend Amy, so a small distraction wouldn’t be enough to leave his fiance undefended. So he lowered his sword- though he still didn’t put it away- and asked his next question.

,,,

Several days passed before Rory felt as though he’d asked the woman pretty much every question that he could think of. She had answered every single question with as much detail as possible without any prompting, and Rory’s gut told him that he could believe her, despite the lack of actual evidence. It seemed far too ridiculous for anyone to have made up. 

But even still, what kind of person would that make him if he could just leave Amy in the hands of a stranger so easily? And Rose seemed ever so understanding of his worries. “We can sit here for as long as you need to trust me. Years, if you’d like.” She held up her arm to glance at the watch wrapped around her wrist. “We’ve still got over a thousand of them left.”

Rory hesitated as he gave Rose a long look. “You’ve seen it all, right? As Bad Wolf?” Rose nodded, looking curious. “So then… is Amy going to be okay? Are any of us going to be okay?” 

Rose tilted her head to the side, and Rory knew that she had no reason to lie to him now, and that she was most likely just thinking of the best way to answer. “What do you believe in, Rory?”

He knew that there had to be a point to the question, but whatever the point was, he didn’t get it yet. “Like religion?”

She shrugged. “Religion, faith, karma, whatever. What do you believe in?”

Rory thought about it for a moment, then glanced back at the box that he’d vowed to protect. “I was never particularly religious, but I suppose that I used to believe in God- the Catholic version. But then I traveled the stars, and I’ve seen so many very impossible things, and I’ve seen such cruelty and pain. I guess that I haven’t really thought about God in a while. It’s hard to believe that He could be real if all that other stuff is. Why?”

“I never believed in anything,” Rose told him in a soft voice, like it was some kind of big confession. “I lived the most boring life imaginable, and I never did anything with it, and I went through some stuff when I was younger that made me feel like I’d been right all along to not believe in anything. But then one day I met the most impossible man, and he took me to see the universe. And we met the devil, and witnessed miracles, and helped people wherever we went. And I started to believe. Not in any religion or gods, but in the Doctor. I believe in him with all my heart, Rory. So long as he is alive, there will always, _always_, be hope. He’s still out there right now, fighting for you and for Amy and for the entire bloody universe. So what do you think, Rory? Are we going to be okay?”

There was such passion and confidence in her voice, and Rory didn’t know how he could possibly try to argue against her. He thought of the Doctor, and all the other impossible things that the man had accomplished. Then he looked at Rose, who’s eyes were shining brightly with all the love she felt for that daft alien. She was sitting here with Rory, ready to sit there for years, instead of out there trying to help. She truly, honest-to-God believed that the Doctor would fix things. After everything the Doctor had given him, wasn’t a little bit of faith the least he could do in return? “Yeah,” he said roughly. “we’re all going to be okay.”

,,,

A week later, mostly spent talking with Rose and getting to know each other better, Rory decided to do the unthinkable, and trust Amy’s safety to someone else. He tried to leave his sword with Rose, but she insisted that she wouldn’t need it if there was any trouble, and that she wouldn’t know how to use it anyways. She’d also tossed him a bag of coins that definitely should not have fit into the pocket of her jeans, and then told him to take his time and just relax for a little while.

Rory felt strange leaving an unarmed woman, practically a stranger, alone to guard his fiance, but he felt deep down that she was right, and he did need a bit of a break. It had been a very long eight hundred years. Perhaps stranger still was that he did feel like he could trust her. It felt as though they’d known each other and been friends for years, rather than having met a week and a half ago. 

Rory walked to the nearest town, which took almost an entire day to reach, and then paid for a room for the night. He didn’t actually need sleep, but he found that once he closed his eyes and relaxed his body, he was able to drift off anyways, and he woke up in the morning feeling more refreshed than he had in a very long time.

He talked to some people, not having realized until Rose showed up just how much he missed being able to socialize with other human beings. He ended up being dragged into a tournament that was starting in just a few days, and would last for two entire weeks. Rory really hadn’t planned on staying away from that long, but it’s not like he could see Amy even when he was guarding her, and… he needed to have faith. He believed that Rose would take care of everything while he was gone.

Of course he could never forget about his fiance, or stop worrying about her, but he was able to let go of a bit of the tension that was around him. He didn’t plan on leaving Amy’s side very often for the next twelve hundred years, so it should be okay if he let himself do something enjoyable for this small amount of time.

He won the tournament, though he knew that it was slightly unfair because of how much more experience he had than any of the other competitors. Even so, he gratefully accepted the small crown made of vines, and the small bag of gold that was his prize. There was a huge feast in celebration of all of the competitors, many of whom asked Rory to train them. He turned them all down, and explained that he was just passing through the town, and needed to get back to his family.

By the time he left the town and headed back to Amy and Rose, it had been almost three weeks since he’d left. When he was close enough to see the Pandorica, he stumbled slightly in surprise. Right next to it was an entire house that looked as though it had been there for years. He hurried forward, and looked around desperately.

The house door popped open, and Rose peered out at him. “Rory! Welcome back!” She offered him a big grin, and Rory felt himself start to relax again. Rose must have seen the confusion in his face, because she stepped outside completely, and leaned back against the wall behind her. “This is my TARDIS. Unlike the Doctor who is atrocious both at being a driver and a technician of TARDIS’, I never jammed up the circuits, so the old girl has no problem disguising to fit in wherever we go. So how was your vacation?”

“It was fine. Nice, even. But I never quite stopped feeling anxious about being away from Amy. I’m always so afraid that something is going to happen. There were so many people after this stupid old box, it’s hard to believe that they’ve all just given up.” Rose hesitated for a moment, and then she pulled Rory into a hug. He stiffened at the first human contact he’d felt in hundreds of years, and then returned it. Rose was a pretty good hugger. Then he pulled away and cleared his throat, feeling slightly awkward. “You wouldn’t happen to have anything in there to help pass the time, would you?”

Rose grinned. “Well, there is the telly. ‘S got the best sports package and everything. I’ve got a library, though it doesn’t have nearly as many books as the Doctor’s. There’s the pool, but it hasn’t got any water in it. There’s a trampoline room that I’m particularly fond of. And, well, she is infinite, remember. So I’m sure she’s got anything that you could imagine, though some things still take her a bit more effort to figure out. She is still basically a baby.” She gave the wall behind her a fond pat. “You can go in and explore if you want.”

Rory thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “No thanks. I think that right now I’ll feel best if I keep Amy in my sight.” He shifted into his usual on-guard position, but then looked at Rose again. “Thank you for giving me that break. I think I really needed it.”

There was a long moment of silence, but Rose didn’t make a move to go back into her TARDIS. Instead, she stood next to him, staring out into the distance. “That’s what friends are for,” she said easily. “And they’re also for making sure that their friends don’t go insane from having to be by themselves for two thousand years. I’m sorry I couldn’t show up sooner, but I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere. Not until the end of the universe, anyways.”

Rory stared at her like she was insane. “How long do you think I’m expecting to stand here?”

Rose shrugged. “The end of everything is coming down on us a lot sooner than you’d think. But don’t worry about it. I know that I’m not. The Doctor will figure out what to do. He always does.”

,,,

Rory sat in front of the Pandorica exhibit in the museum, and looked at Rose with wide eyes. “Where are you going? You’ve been waiting so long to get to the Doctor, and surely he’s going to be here any moment now.” By ‘moment’ he meant more of ‘any year now’, but after having lived for so long, it all felt the same anyways. 

Rose sighed, and her shoulders slumped down. “Even if the Doctor did hop right here from the past, it’s still be hundreds of years for him since he last saw me. He doesn’t need me anymore. He’s had Martha and Donna and you and Amy and Clara- or will have. He’s done so many amazing, brilliant things. Without me. No matter how much I love him, or if he ever truly did love me once upon a time, that was ages ago. No one holds onto their feelings for so long.”

Rory arched one eyebrow, and shot a pointed look towards the Pandorica that he’d been guarding for nearly two thousand years now. “So you’re saying that when Amy steps out of there, I’m not going to love her anymore?”

The blonde quickly shook her head. “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I shouldn’t have said it like that. I don’t mean to comment on any relationship other than mine. I just mean that the Doctor has already lived such a full, joyous life without me. I served my purpose in his life, and now that’s over with, and he doesn’t need me.”

“Shouldn’t that be for him to decide?”

Both Rory and Rose quickly turned to the source of the new voice, and saw a young girl with red hair. Rory recognized her immediately. He had grown up alongside her, after all. “Amy?”

The girl nodded once, then looked back at Rose. “I don’t know who you’re talking ‘bout, but aren’t you always supposed to give other people a choice? That’s what you taught me, anyways.”

Rose couldn’t hide the surprise on her face. “I taught you?” 

Young Amy nodded again, and then crossed her arms over her chest, her impatient expression identical to the one that she wore quite often as an adult. “Why are you acting so weird, Miss Rose? You’re the one who told me to come here.”

“Did I?” Rose’s eyes flashed gold for just a second, fast enough that Rory would think he’d imagined it if she hadn’t told him long ago about Bad Wolf and the time vortex. “You’re right, I did. Sorry for acting so silly, Amy. You know how grown-ups are, always forgetting things.”

“Don’t I know it,” the girl agreed. “So what did you want me to see?” 

Rose walked over to the Pandorica, skipping past the barriers around it, and then pressed her palms flat against it. “Oh, Miss Pond, I want to show you the stars.”

Rory watched as the girl’s eyes widened, and then she clasped her hands together. “Do you mean it? I know you always said that I wasn’t just imagining them, but everyone else said they were just made up.”

“I mean it,” Rose promised. “A girl like you deserves to see all of time and space.” Then the stone doors of the giant box swung open, and the adult Amy stumbled out, right into Rory’s waiting arms. “Take care of her,” Rose instructed as she nodded towards the little girl. “I’ve got to go.”

Rory reached out to grab Rose’s sleeve, even as Amy looked back and forth between the two of them in confusion. “Don’t go. The Doctor still- okay, so maybe he doesn’t need you. Maybe none of us are important enough for that. But he does want you still. Isn’t that enough?”

There were tears glistening in Rose’s eyes. “You’d never even heard of me before we met, Rory. He promised that he would talk about me to his future companions, but clearly he never did. He forgot about me, and he moved on with his life, as he should have.” She reached down to gently pry Rory’s hand free from the fabric of her shirt. “Thank you for being my friend, Rory. I’ve known you for much much longer than I’ve known the Doctor.”

Even as Rory’s hand fell, the adult Amy was moving forward. “Wait, who are you?”

Rose shrugged. “An old relic. Nobody important.” 

“I don’t think there’s any such thing,” came the Doctor’s voice from the entrance to the exhibit room. Everyone looked over at him as he hurried forward, and Rory knew that he’d never seen such a look on the Doctor’s face before. A look full of longing and hope and confusion and fear. He reached out to grab Rose’s hands as soon as he was close enough, as though it would stop her from running away. “Rose…”

There was the sound of footsteps out in the hallway, and the adult Amy cleared her throat. “I hate to cut in, but don’t we have a few other things to be dealing with at the moment?” 

The Doctor nodded, though he looked entirely too reluctant to tear his eyes away from Rose for even a second, and Rory wondered how Rose could possibly think that the Doctor had ever forgotten about her. Probably the real reason he’d never mentioned her before was because it had hurt too much, not because he’d been able to move on. Rory could only hope that Rose would come to her senses and stick around. After being there for him for over a thousand years, Rory wanted Rose to be able to find her happiness as well.

,,,

“Just remember them and they’ll be there,” the Doctor had told Amy earnestly. She believed him about that, but… what did she really need another family for? She had Rory, and Rory’s dad, and the Doctor, and River, and she was happy. So she didn’t picture a mother and father and a house full of siblings. Instead, she thought desperately of the Doctor, not wanting him to disappear. And almost as an afterthought, flashes of gold flitted through her mind, and Amy thought of the blonde woman as well. She didn’t even know the woman’s name, but she knew that the Doctor was clearly madly in love with her, and he deserved to be happy.

When Amy opened her eyes, she realized that she was tucked in her bed at home, and she quickly threw back the blankets and ran outside and down the street, not caring that she was only wearing her pajamas and a thin pair of socks. Halfway down the lane, Rory came running at her, apparently having had the same idea. They met in the middle, colliding into a tight hug, and a frantic, passionate kiss. “I waited two thousand years for you,” Rory told her breathlessly. And it was worth every second.” 

They pulled away, but continued to hold hands, unwilling to let go of each other. After a few minutes, they heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS, and it landed right in front of them before the doors opened and the Doctor stuck his head out, grinning. “Why Miss Pond, I might actually start to believe that you would have missed me.”

“Shut up,” Amy groused before throwing herself into his arms. Rory joined the group hug as well. It felt like ages before they finally separated, and then Amy tried to peer past the Doctor into the open TARDIS. “Is she in there?”

The Doctor raised one eyebrow. “Who?”

Had it not worked? Was it because she hadn’t known the woman well enough? But the Doctor had said she’d be able to bring her family into existence when she’d never known them either, so that couldn’t be it. Rory seemed to understand, though, as his eyes widened, and then he gave Amy an excited look. “I know where she’ll be!” He pulled Amy past the Doctor and onto the TARDIS, and the Doctor followed after them, clearly bemused. “Doctor, take us to Rome in the year 843 CE. Now!”

The Doctor stared at Rory in shock, since Rory wasn’t usually one to be barking orders, but Amy understood that this was too important to be patient. No matter how energetic the Doctor was, it was obvious to anyone who knew him that he was sad. And he’d only had that other woman for all of twenty minutes, but he’d been practically glowing with excitement, happier in that short amount of time than Amy had ever seen him before. “Please, Doctor,” she added. “Do as he says.”

The Doctor shrugged. “As you wish.” He started throwing levers and flipping switches, and they took off. “Anywhere in particular? ‘Rome’ is a bit vague.”

When Rory hesitated, Amy decided to say, “We’ll know when we get there.” She didn’t want to get the Doctor’s hopes up now if it turned out that Rory was wrong. 

The ship landed, but then immediately took off again and landed again without the Doctor having touched the console at all. He stared at the console in confusion, but nothing else strange happened, and the coordinates said that they’d only moved a few miles west of where he’d originally landed. Even so, he looked up at the two humans. “Stay here. I don’t know what made us move again, and it could be something dangerous.”

“Be careful, Doctor.”

The Doctor nodded once, and then stepped outside. He found himself standing right in front of a small house that looked pretty typical of the times. Had something in the house brought him here, or had the TARDIS? And why had Rory been so insistent that they come here in the first place?

Well, there was only one way to find out. The Doctor took a deep breath, and then knocked politely on the front door of the house. Several long seconds passed before it popped open, and the Doctor could immediately see the interior. It was the console room of a TARDIS, though when he stepped inside, he knew that it wasn’t his. The telepathic signature was just a bit different. 

The room was smaller than the one in the Doctor’s TARDIS, and the walls looked like they were made of sloppily made plaster, of all things. The decorations didn’t matter, though. All the Doctor could think about was that somehow, there must be another Time Lord still alive. What other explanation was there? He couldn’t feel the faint telepathic signature of a Time Lord, but it was an easy enough thing for a TARDIS to block if it was so inclined to do so. 

He heard footsteps coming closer, and he waited with bated breath. He stepped around the time rotor once he realized what direction the steps were coming from, and stared through the doorway. All the doors appeared to be wooden, specifically thin, cheap wood, which was quite unusual for a TARDIS. And then he forgot about everything else he’d been thinking as a familiar face came into view.

The Doctor knew that he was just gaping at her like an idiot, but what else was he supposed to do? “Rose?”

She stared at him for a long moment, and then they rushed together into a hug. “Doctor, what are you- Rory,” she suddenly said, as though it was a curse. “He told you to come here?”

The Doctor nodded once, and reached up to touch Rose’s face. “How are you here? Am I just dreaming?”

Rose gave him a small smile as she shook her head. “This isn’t a dream, I’m really here. I didn’t tear any holes in the fabric of the universe, I promise. I just took advantage of an opportunity, but I can’t tell you about it because it hasn’t happened for you yet.” She gulped when the Doctor didn’t say anything after several long seconds. “Why are you just staring at me?” she asked in a low voice.

“You’re so much more beautiful than I remembered,” he answered. 

The Doctor just wanted to savor the feeling of Rose in his arms forever, but she pulled away from him, and he wanted to cry. “Doctor, I’m sorry, but I can’t- we can’t- I can’t go with you.”

The Doctor froze, and then began looking around the room again, trying to spot any clues he might have missed. Was she here with the metacrisis? She still looked so young, and had probably had barely any time with the human Doctor yet. He couldn’t tell how old this TARDIS was just by looking, so he turned back to Rose for answers. “Why not?” 

She crossed her arms in front of her defensively. “Because I didn’t- don’t. I’ve seen your future, Doctor, and I know that I’m not in it.”

“Then let’s change the future,” the Doctor offered. He couldn’t imagine a worse thing in the world than getting to see Rose again, only to lose her again. Why was the universe so intent on making him miserable?

Rose shook her head. “Doctor, it’s been a long time. For both of us. We’ve both changed so much. There was once a version of you who seemed to have been made just for me, but that was years ago, and you’ve changed. You’ve become a person who doesn’t need me, Doctor. Well, you’ve never needed me, but you know what I mean.”

The Doctor frowned. “I have absolutely no idea what you mean, Rose Tyler. I have always and will always need you. You saved me when I was just a broken man with nothing left to live for. You brought the light into the universe again. And I never got the chance to tell you, at least not from this mouth, but Rose Tyler… I love you.”

Rose stared at him, tears glistening in her eyes. “But what about your future?”

The Doctor carefully took her hands, even though he wanted to do so much more than that. “I never thought I would have this chance, but now that I do, I can’t possibly imagine a future that doesn’t have you in it.” He knew that he sounded desperate, but that’s because he was. He couldn’t lose her again. He just couldn’t. 

It felt like ages passed before Rose suddenly grabbed him by his jacket to yank him down at the same time she leaned up on her tiptoes, and she pulled him into an absolutely breath-taking kiss. She pulled away, but their lips were still just centimeters apart. “Alright,” she whispered. “I don’t want to ruin your future, Doctor, but I’m miserable without you, so I’m going to be selfish, and I’m going to have what I want this time.”

“And what’s that?” 

“Just you,” she murmured. “That’s all I need.”

,,,

When they got back onto the Doctor’s TARDIS and Rory greeted Rose like an old friend, the Doctor was filled with questions. But all of that could wait until later, because right at that moment, the Doctor finally had Rose back, and nothing else could ever possibly matter as much as that.


End file.
